Mohamed Elneny is set to be handed a one-year contract extension at Arsenal, with announcements also expected over the respective futures of Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah in the coming days.
All three players are due to be out of contract next month, and manager Mikel Arteta confirmed following yesterday’s final game of the season that decisions have already been made over their fates beyond that.
He refused to reveal any details ahead of the official announcements, but Elneny was spotted posing for club photographs with a pen and paper in hand after the 5-1 win over Everton, and is to extend his stay as one of the club’s longest-serving players, having joined in January 2016.
An outcast for much of the season, the Egyptian seized his chance in the final weeks following Thomas Partey’s injury as he started each of the Gunners’ last seven league games. He is seen as a useful squad player as Arteta looks to bolster his options ahead of a return to Europe.
Lacazette was handed a farewell cameo as a substitute against the Toffees ahead of his expected departure as a free agent, but there is less certainty over the future of academy graduate Nketiah.
Against Everton, the 22-year-old netted the fifth goal of a late-season flurry that saw him surpass Lacazette and former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as Arsenal’s top-scoring striker in the Premier League this season.
Arteta has been public with his desire to keep the England Under-21 international, but is also determined to bring in at least one new striker this summer. Nketiah is desperate for regular football, having spent the majority of the campaign on the bench.
